Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786

Krell, Frank-Thorsten, Rey, Antonio, Micó, Estefanía, Dutto, Moreno & U. S. A., 2012, On nomenclature and identity of Scarabaeus aeruginosus Linnaeus, S. aeruginosus Drury and S. speciosissimus Scopoli (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Cetoniinae and Rutelinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 119 (1), pp. 99-110 : 103-106

Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786 , valid name, currently in Protaetia

With Drury's name being unavailable, according to current synonymy lists ( Dutto 2005, Smetana 2006) the oldest names for this species are Scarabaeus viridis germanus Voet , "1778", Scarabaeus auratus Füessly, 1782 , Scarabaeus viridis Füessly, 1786 and Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786 .

Scarabaeus viridis germanus was published in a work that is not consistently binominal ( Voet 1766 -1778), being unavailable for nomenclatural purposes (cf. Krell, in press).

According to Art. 49 (ICZN 1999) Scarabaeus auratus Füessly, 1782 is not an available name since Füessly did not propose a new species but just referred to " Scarabaeus auratus […] Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. XII. pag. 557. 78", i.e. Cetonia aurata (Linnaeus, 1758) which he misinterpreted.

Scarabaeus viridis Füessly, 1786 is available by indication, referring to references listed under Scarabaeus auratus by Füessly (1782). By simply adopting Voet's (1766 -1778) name Füessly makes it available under his own authorship. Under his Scarabaeus valgus, Linné (1764: 15) cites a '' Scarabaeus marianus viridis '' with the reference of ''Pet. gaz. t. 27. f. 8'' ( Petiver 1704) which was re-published in Petiver (1764). This work is not consistently binominal, hence not fulfilling the requirements of Art. 11.4 for nomenclaturally available works. Scarabaeus viridis Füessly, 1786 is not threatened by an older homonym.

In the same year Füessly's name was published, Scopoli (1786: 48) introduced the name Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786 . According to Evenhuis (1997) this work appeared between January and June 1786. Based on this information, the date of publication according to Art. 21.3.1. (ICZN 1999) is 31 June 1786. We could not find unequivocal information whether S. speciosissimus or S. viridis were published earlier. The only indication for a later publication of S. viridis we found in Anonymous (1793: no. X.1588) where the year 1787 is given for the first part of volume 3 of Füessly's Neues Magazin. Since all other sources we know give 1786 as year of publication, we consider, in lack of any more detailed dating, a publication date of 31 December 1786 (according to Art. 21.3.2., ICZN 1999). Hence, Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786 has precedence over Scarabaeus viridis Füessly, 1786 . As Bedel formally stated in 1909, Scopoli's name is the valid name for the species that Drury called Scarabaeus aeruginosus .

S. speciosissima was described from Insubria (Duchy of Milan) based on ''In Museo Ill. comitis Castiglioni.'' This most likely refers to the collection of the Count Luigi Castiglioni who studied under Scopoli at the University of Pavia ( Marraro 1950). It is unclear whether Scopoli had a series of syntypes or just one specimen which then could be considered the holotype. Because of this irresolvable uncertainty we herewith designate the specimen illustrated by Scopoli (1786) on plate 21, fig. A, as the lectotype of Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786 ( Fig. 3 ).

Castiglioni material does not exist in the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano (F. Rigato, in litt. 2011). Castiglioni and its collection are neither mentioned in Goidanich (1975), Horn et al. (1990) nor in Poggi & Conci (1996). Scopoli's early collections were presumably destroyed around 1766; later material is not mentioned by Horn et al. (1990) and is likely to be untraceable or lost ( Poggi & Conci 1996; Evenhuis 1997; Violani in litt. 2011). A lost lectotype provides the opportunity to designate a neotype.

Dutto (2005: 111) indicated that Estefania Micó had designated a neotype for Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli , a specimen deposited in the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Carmagnola, Italy. Since this designation has never been published fulfilling the qualifying conditions of Code Art. 75.3 ( ICZN 1999 ), no neotype currently exists .

We herewith designate this specimen as the neotype of Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786 to clarify the taxonomic identity of Scopoli's nominal species once and for all, and to back up its subjective synonymy with Potosia aeruginosa Medvedev.

The male specimen bears the labels "VALLE TICINO / BELLINZAGO / VI- 86. brughiera / lg Pescarolo", red label: " NEOTYPE / Cetonischema / speciosissimum (Scop.) / Det.: E. Micó 2001", " Scarabaeus / speciosissimus / Scop, 1786 / NEOTY- PUS / des. Krell, Rey, Mico & Dutto 2011". The locus typicus Bellinzago Novarese is in the Province of Novara, Piedmont, 45°34'N 8°38'E, an area that belonged to the former Duchy of Milan ( Insubria ), the locus typicus of the lost lectotype .

Neotype of Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786 . (A) Dorsal view. (B) Parameres from dorsal. (C) Labels.

The specimen shows the following characters of the former subgenus Cetonischema: Elytra without juxtasutural depression, finely punctuated, without toment spots; front end of pronotum bulgy in the middle; mesometasternal processus subtriangular and smooth; pronotum with fine and dispersed punctures, being almost absent on the disc; body length: 28.9 mm.

The following species-diagnostic characters distinguish it from Protaetia speciosa , the only other species in the former subgenus Cetonischema: Dorsally uniformly metallic green with slight reddish reflexes; parameres completely shiny, distal part not velvety (Fig. 5).

In northern Italy, only this one species of the former subgenus Cetonischema is present.

Figures

FIG. 3 Lectotype of Scarabaeus speciosissimus Scopoli, 1786, figured by Scopoli (1786).